West Brom face pressure to ensure play-off spot in Championship run-in

National World - LocalTV

As West Bromwich Albion chase a Championship play-off spot, all eyes are on Tony Mowbray and whether he can guide the Baggies to a strong finish. We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld who feels there’s a renewed sense of belief at the club and confidence that, under Mowbray’s leadership, Albion can secure a play-off place and build something even stronger going forward.

Transcript

00:00now as West Bromwich Albion chase a championship playoff spot all eyes are on Tony Mowbray

00:08and whether he can guide the baggies to a strong finish since returning to the club Mowbray has

00:14brought stability and belief to the Hawthorns and his experience could prove vital in the running

00:20West Brom's recent form has kept them firmly in the mix but consistency will be key if they're

00:25to secure a top six place injuries have tested the squad yet Mowbray's calm approach and tactical

00:31know-how have helped them grind out results when needed I spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham

00:38World who believes Mowbray's impact has been crucial in steadying the ship he feels there's a renewed

00:43sense of belief at the club and confidence that under Mowbray's leadership Albion can secure a

00:49playoff place but they need to find some consistency sooner rather than later

00:54Charlie let's look at West Bromwich Albion let's just dive into the playoff race

01:01obviously you know incredibly tight in the championship this season we've mentioned

01:05a fair few times how difficult it is and you know West Brom have been that team that's been in and

01:11around or you know in the playoffs for pretty much 90% of it they suddenly drop out you know a few

01:16weeks ago and there's a lot of questions surrounding Mowbray's style of play obviously

01:21a lot of late you know losing goals conceding which is so hard to take I mean how do you sort

01:28of look at West Brom this season in terms of their ambitions because they've been so close and they

01:32really want to make sure now that they are not the side that just narrowly misses out yeah it's been

01:38so frustrating for West Brom fans to watch them kind of plummet away it's been strange that they've

01:43stayed in fifth and sixth for most of the season considering they've not exactly been setting the

01:47world alight they've not lost many games in the earlier stage of the season and then when Tony

01:52Mowbray first came in they kind of maintained that but then when they go and lose three on the bounce

01:56it just kind of shows how quickly the teams below you can zump you and get above you into those

02:01playoff positions we all know how important it is to finish in that top six they call it the 100

02:06million pound game for a reason the playoff final it's because getting to the Premier League can

02:11completely transform a football club yes when you get there it's incredibly difficult

02:15promoter teams are often relegated again but having that financial boost and be able to build for the

02:19future is so important now West Brom I mean being down in seventh position and down to eighth and

02:25ninth and they're really struggling to to get over the line a few games to go they need to step up their

02:31game an important win that they did manage against Watford they need to try and build momentum now

02:36they've got some really important games coming up and if they don't perform their best well

02:40that they're going to miss out and it's going to be a very disappointing season

02:43yeah just touching on the running um you know a fair few sides around them have quite a tough run

02:49in West Brom's looks quite favourable really if they just get their ideas together um obviously

02:55the Easter weekend is very very tough to overcome but it's very very doable I mean that could be six

03:01points in in the space of a few days uh for West Brom what you sort of see from them do you feel

03:07they will have enough to just make it over the line in these final few games of the season

03:11I think it's definitely a good sign that they're playing a few teams down the bottom of the table but

03:16maybe they would have played them a few weeks ago when it wasn't quite crunch time in the relegation

03:20battle that might not actually help their case playing the likes of Cardiff and Derby down the

03:25bottom and Luton as well it's not going to be easy um I know that statistically they've been the worst

03:30teams in the division on paper but West Brom have shown that they are kind of susceptible against

03:35those kind of teams are really fighting and battling as hard as they can sometimes those

03:39um aggressive and competitive games hardly fought games don't go their way um the Coventry game as

03:45well is absolutely massive um I mean a six pointer if Coventry go and win that one you'd expect them

03:50to go and secure their their top six status and then it's down to Bristol City it's down to West Brom

03:56it's down to Middlesbrough down to Millwall they're probably the teams left in the competition now and

04:00yeah as I say they just need to need to really dig deep they need to perform at their absolute best

04:05say goodbye to what's happened in the past just focus on game by game and see what can happen

04:10before the end of this season um but as I say I think Mowbray it hasn't been quite the start he

04:16would have wanted fans have been getting on his back they've not been behind his substitutions

04:20his team selections but one thing he can do is in the transfer market he's very good at taking hold

04:25of the whole situation at a football club he showed signs of that at Birmingham before his illness

04:29he looked like he was really going to make such a difference with their recruitment I think maybe

04:33the the board will back him that's probably one of the reasons why they appointed him instead of

04:37someone just as a quick fix because he is the potential to have that uh kind of long-term backing

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